2013 Tesla Model S steering problems

Filed Jun 24, 2026 · Electrical, Steering · IL

The vehicle has suffered a catastrophic, intermittent low-voltage network crash caused by a failing Body Control Module (BCM), resulting in multiple dangerous safety-critical failure modes. On a previous occasion, the vehicle woke up with severe network faults and automatically forced itself into Neutral. When the driver stepped out to get the child and shut the door, the system crashed entirely and the exterior electronic door handles failed to present, trapping an infant child inside the running vehicle. Most recently, while driving in a rainstorm, the vehicle suffered a complete failure of the windshield wipers, a total loss of the high-beam headlights, a total loss of the horn, and a total loss of electronic communication to the electronic parking brake system. Most critically, the vehicle experienced an uncommanded propulsion hazard where it hard-locked itself in the 'Drive' gear and absolutely refused to shift into 'Park' or 'Neutral,' forcing the driver to physically maintain heavy hydraulic brake pressure to keep the vehicle from creeping forward. Because the horn failed and the parking brake was disabled, the driver was trapped in the driver's seat holding the brakes and was forced to call 911 for emergency first responders to come and physically block the wheels so the driver and infant could safely exit. Tesla Service has diagnosed the issue as a failed central Body Control Module (Part #1010906-00-D), but the cascading network failure modes present an extreme, life-threatening hazard regarding vehicle control and child entrapment.

Filed Jan 1, 2025 · Steering, Suspension · NV

When driving my vehicle the rear axle snapped causing the vehicle to fishtail. When checked by insurance company for repairs they found the Air suspension and rear axle snapped. It took out the air ride suspension, and bent 2 rims. It caused damage to the front fender as well as both interior wheel wells on the driver's side. Due to the suspension issue it caused a rock to come up and cracked windshield. The issue caused my vehicle to leave the road as I could not control the vehicle.

Filed Oct 30, 2023 · Steering · CA

Power steering has failed and the car is dangerous to drive unless you have Arnold Schwarteneggers strength. Tesla wants to charge an exorbitant amount to repair their failure (just as they charged me for fixing THEIR recall with the EMMC unit. They keep passing the buck on the consumer which I can not afford to fix their problems in this financial climate.

Filed Aug 26, 2023 · Electrical, Steering · NY

On August 23, 2023 I was driving my 2013 Tesla Model S on the Van Wyck Expressway when suddenly the steering wheel became very stiff making the car hard to steer. I experience a loss of electronic power in steering the car. I called Tesla Road Service they dispatched a tow truck one of their tow provider and I was charged $475.00 dollars. It was towed to: Tesla Service Center @ 160 Van Brunt Street Brooklyn, NY 11231. I mentioned to Tesla Service Center per information I reviewed online this is a recall SB-22-00-014 per the year of my vehicle 2013 Tesla Model S. Tesla Service Center charged me $500.84 cents for a diagnosis they said the Electric Power Steering Gear Rack & Pinion is the issue and refused to acknowledge the recall per the model of my 2013 Model S Tesla. They quote me an amount of $4, 500.00 dollars before tax to fix the issue. When I declined the repairs per this expensive price I was informed by Tesla Service Center @ 160 Van Brunt Street to come and pickup the car. I arrived on Friday, August 25, 2023 to pickup the car with a tow truck the service department could not locate my keys. It took them 3 hours to find my key and then they put the car on service mode not allowing the car to go on park or drive only staying on neutral. They claimed that happened because the car reset itself. When I insist by a manager for them to fix that problem since the car did not come in with that issue only a stiff steering problem they refused. After several discussion with different staff and managers they had one of their mechanic to fix the issue and the car was able to go on Drive & Park again so I can have it towed to my location which took 3 tow trucks since Tesla wasn't cooperative in the beginning. I had the car towed to my location with the stiff steering the failed Electric Power Steering Gear Rack & Pinion Tesla refused to repair the problem per the Recall safety issue on this car. They want to charge me $4,500.00 plus tax out of pocket.

Filed Jan 9, 2023 · Electrical, Steering · WA

At random the Steering assist reduce, traction control disabled, stability, control, disable, regenerative breaking reduced. Wipers are affected during these error messages. The car is trying to get me killed!! On different days, all those errors are gone and the car drives normal. Suspect this is a software defect and can be very dangerous. Seems like something got reset after the car is turned off. All software are up to date on the car and on the phone app. Once no more errors from the car, it would drive normal until it randomly disable traction control, stability control and wipers becomes very slow, get stuck at times.

Filed Nov 21, 2022 · Steering · NY

The power steering in the vehicle is severely reduced, making steering very difficult while driving. Error message states that " Steering assist reduced - steering may require increased effort."

Filed Dec 1, 2021 · Steering · CA

I lost power steering with 64,850 miles on the odometer. I was told the steering rack ($2750) and the front left body harness assembly ($525) needed to be replaced because of corrosion. These figures do not include labor and taxes. While I'm aware of the recall related to replacing the steering bolts to fix a corrosion problem (already fixed), this fix was not covered. I was very annoyed that this fix also included replacing the harness assembly, because the labor charge was 3 times the price of the harness assembly. This problem occurred in the morning after the car was parked in the driveway overnight and as soon as I turned the wheel, I head a slight pop and had NO power steering. The two line fault was "Steering assist reduced" "Steering may require increased effort". I'm glad this did not occur while negotiating a turn at speed because it's extremely difficult to manually steer a 4750 pound car without any power assist. I asked to keep the old parts, but I was only given the old steering rack and not the old harness assembly. The old steering rack looks slightly dirty, but other than that it appears fine and is available for inspection.

Filed Oct 30, 2021 · Steering, Suspension · NV

To whom it may concern, Tesla Model S, and potentially other vehicles, have notorious issues with their front suspension fore links perhaps causing unsafe driving conditions. The topic has been brought up on Tesla forums numerous times and countless drivers are experiencing the same issue due to faulty parts provided during the manufacture of Tesla vehicles. The issue causes turning tightness, tire rubbing, and complete car driving capability failure, usually at low speeds. With the frequency of the complaint and the potential danger it could cause should the front suspension fully fail at higher speeds, this serious matter needs to be investigated on an urgent basis. As older Tesla vehicles are now aging the occurrence and increased risk is only rising to everyday, unsuspecting drivers. Just recently, my fore link and front suspension failed only minorly, and without and complete understanding of what the issue was the car was experiencing I continued to drive the vehicle. The only noticeable issue that came up for me was tire rubbing during reversing and slight misalignment when the vehicle was parked. After taking it in to Tesla I now know that this could have been a fatal error on my part of the front suspension would have failed completely during highway speeds. When these front fore links fail, most will only experience minor issues like me and avoid taking it into repair, as the average car buyer does not understand that this could be a catastrophic failure. If this issue is not resolved and a recall seriously considered, I’m concerned in the not so distant future that this may lead to serious bodily harm if full failure of the front suspension occurs during highway or roadway speeds. Again, this is not an isolated issue. Countless and thousands of Tesla owners have shared their experiences online with the same issue. I’ve attached my Tesla service quote for your review, this repair costs upwards of $3,500.

Filed Aug 26, 2021 · Steering, Suspension · FL

I was approaching a stop sign at 2 mph when I heard a terrible metallic clunking sound from under the front of the car. When I went to make a right turn, I was unable to steer the car. I was able to get it into a parking lot where I saw that the front right wheel was cambered in at about 30 degrees. I took photos of the car and in the wheel well and saw that the wheel was disconnected from an upper control bar. I had it towed to the Tesla Service Center and they confirmed that the Upper suspension link had disconnected from the wheel. There is a ball and socket type of joint that connects the two and the ball had popped out of the socket causing the problem. I had them check the Right front connection and was told that that socket was also loose and needed to be replaced. I had both sides repaired. My concern is that had I been traveling on a highway at 70 mph, I would have lost control of the car causing a terrible accident. The fact that the other side also showed similar problems leads one to conclude that there is a design or material flaw in the Tesla Modal S front suspension. The car has only 83,000 miles of normal driving usage. I believe that all Model S cars from this era should be recalled and inspected for this problem. Otherwise, accidents will occur and some may be fatal. Tesla told me that they were unaware of any such problems with their cars. A quick internet search shows that this is not true. I have the parts that were removed if you need to inspect them.

Filed Jul 22, 2021 · Steering · KY

Car had a pending software update 7/21/2021, which I deferred in order to drive for the day. 45 minutes later, while taking a sharp curving exit ramp, the power assist steering cut off, and I almost left the roadway headed for the ditch. Steering manually is extremely heavy, and it took all my strength to keep it on the road. I updated the software and rebooted after returning home. The steering assist "heals" itself for about 30 seconds after you start up from a full shut down, but then the error message pops up again, and the steering assist goes out. There is a safety recall involving steering bolt corrosion.